PAZZO - SURRY HILLS, SYDNEY

Pazzo 

583 Crown St
Surry Hills

Surprisingly, Pazzo has been here for a long while. We say surprisingly because despite its clear popularity and great food it doesn't seem to have a high profile - yet it's certauinly popular and for good reasons. It has good food, nice atmosphere and great service - everything you want. 

We started with a light snack of some fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic to dip it in.

Mlady was very impressed with the bread saying it was some of the best she'd had in recent times. A big call.

I have to confess that it was pretty good and for an Italian meal it always just seems right to do this - doesn't it?

Our starter was a shared antipasto. It had a fantastic assortment on it as well. It had smoked trout cakes, mushroom arrancini, prosciutto cups, whitebait fritter, caponata and crostini. It was a great start to our meal and it was all very tasty.

Mlady loved the crisp prosciutto cups with soft filling and my favourite was the mushroom arrancini that was packed with flavour and nicely crisp on the outside and moist inside.

We shared all our main courses. First was our pasta dish. This was the spaghetti with prawns, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil and topped with toasted breadcrumbs. We always love seafood and pasta - a perfect marriage. We were also pleased to see that the prawns were plump, large and juicy.

The topping of toasted breadcrumbs was interesting and surprisingly good. The blend of textures it created was really nice. 

The menu had a "Fish of the Day"option and on this occasion it was crispy skinned salmon. Mlady is a huge fan of crispy skin on salmon - and this version had skin that could almost have been described as salmon crackling. It was so crisp it crunched and dissolved - it was really great.

The salmon itself was perfectly cooked and the potato rosti went well.

Our final main course - yes we had three and really indulged - was the chicken supreme. This was chicken stuffed with goat’s cheese, basil and green olives on pumpkin and prosciutto bake.

Stuffed chicken can sometimes be a bit hit and miss but this was excellent. The chicken was lightly cooked to retain its moisture and the creamy filling went really well.



Dessert was hard to eat as we were very full so we decided to share one - yes a first for us! We actually had the dessert of the day - and it was really great. It was a rolled pavlova - or rolled meringue - that was both crunchy and smooth all in one. It was a new twist on pavlova and the flavours and textures were great. It was so light and so tasty that we wished we had ordered one each!




Pazzo is a lovely Italian restaurant. Chef Joshua Flemming has done a great job of preparing tasty traditional dishes with some extra creative flair. It's a bigger place than it appears on first blush as well with a front room, rear private room and an upstairs function room. Service was excellent and the whole place has a nice feel to it. It's well worth visiting.

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Pazzo and its owner Rafaelle Faro.